Scuola Italiana del XVII secolo, Lot e le fig... Lot n° 105

The uniqueness of a work like this is well expressed in the caption describing the work: it is a painting of hexagonal format, quite unusual, and done through the technique of oil on marble.When Titian painted L'Ecce Homo on the same medium he was to all intents and purposes experimenting in light of the revolution introduced in Italy by the advent of oil painting in the 16th century.Although oil on canvas was quicker to make, lighter and easier to transport, Italian painters always sought a way to innovate and provide a variation to a well-established tradition.The choice of marble, as well as slate and other monochromatic stones, is linked to the desire to make one's work eternal on such a noble support that is closely linked to classicism. But not only that: painters were fascinated by the variation in tones and material rendering that was possible using various types of binders. A subject such as this one, Lot and his daughters, is well suited to precisely this kind of experimentation: the scene is immersed in a gloomy darkness, from which only the bodies of the elderly man and the two maidens emerge, and the fire that burns the sinful city of Sodom in the distance.This painting is balanced in its color drafting and composition-a fact not obvious given the atypical format-to which the painter pays more attention than the emotionality and sensual tension typical of depictions of this episode. Oil on hexagonal marble, 39x33 cm.